Vandals spray-paint racial slurs and throw eggs at injured war hero's family home a week after he returns from rehab

An injured war hero and his Illinois family are reeling in shock this week after vandals defaced his home in O'Fallon on Sunday night, spray-painting the property and throwing eggs at the site.

Marine Lance Cpl. Chris Van Etten, who lost both his legs in an IED explosion in June in Afghanistan, had been home from rehab barely a week when the curious incident took place.

On early Monday morning, a thoughtful neighbor paid the family home a visit to let them know that racial slurs had been painted on the side of the house overnight.

Defaced: Vandals targeted the house of a returning war hero on Sunday night when they spray-painted his home with racial slurs and threw eggs at the property. The act has been described as random by police

The Belleville News-Democrat reports the incident may have been a random act and not necessarily designed to target him.

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O'Fallon police Captain Mark Berry said of the insults spray-painted on the side of the family house: 'With the racial slurs, it didn't fit the occupants that lived in the home.'

Thanks: Chris Van Etten said the community's help with cleaning up the mess raised the family's spirits after the distressing incident

Brave: Marine Lance Cpl. Chris Van Etten lost both his legs when an IED exploded in Afghanistan in June

Marine Lance Cpl. Chris Van Etten has been in rehab in California since his accident in June where he has been learning to use his new prosthetic legs.

He had returned home from San Diego with his mother on December 18th to spend Christmas with his friends and relatives for three weeks before returning to complete his recovery.

While Captain Berry says there are no eye witnesses and no other available evidence, the war hero has thanked his community for their generous help getting the damage cleaned up.

Hard work: The wounded war vet has been recovering at a San Diego rehab facility since the explosion in Afghanistan in June

Hero's return: Walking tall on his new legs, the soldier returned home on December 18th to spend the holidays with his family before returning to rehab

'Seeing that so many people came out and that they wanted to help out even though most of them didn't even know who we were, they just wanted to help out, that definitely raised our spirits. I mean, [that's] Christmas spirit,' Lance Cpl. Van Etten said.

Suburbia: Police in O'Fallon say the racial slurs painted on the house do not correlate to the family and are seemingly random

Meanwhile, Captain Berry told the Belleville News-Democrat: 'We have been patrolling that neighborhood the last few days and found no further criminal defacement.'

The Van Etten household will no doubt be keen to move on from this bizarre act of vandalisation and enjoy their hero's stay.

Before he leaves for San Diego in early January they will be looking forward to a celebration in his honor at the VFW on January 5th.